Ed Mills began in public higher education as a financial aid coordinator over 30 years ago, and has since devoted his career to developing and implementing new strategies for enrollment management, student services and enhancing student engagement and well-being. At Sacramento State, Ed currently serves as the Vice President for Student Affairs overseeing more than 50 departments and programs. He received his bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University, a master’s degree from Pennsylvania State University and his PhD in Higher Education Leadership/Human Resource Studies from Colorado State University.

Helping students succeed is Ed’s passion. He is very accessible to students and spends a considerable amount of time each week meeting with individual students or attending events and programs. Ed participates in new student orientation meetings with students and their families, and enjoys interacting with students at commencement. He also teaches a freshmen seminar course each fall. Working to end the need for remediation for college students is Ed's career goal. He is actively conducting research and working to find solutions to help students be "college ready" so they can avoid costly and often negatively stigmatized remedial courses.

Locally, Ed serves as a board member for the Future Foundation of Sacramento and the Rainbow Chamber Foundation. These non-profit organizations provide scholarships and mentoring to high achieving, low income students in the Sacramento area. In addition, he volunteers his time at many programs and events aimed at promoting education and college readiness to local youth.